Milk is a sensitive food product that requires gentle treatment. At the same time it is important to subject the milk for testing, such as an automatic somatic cell counting unit (OCC) to discover infections, and also for establishing how rich the milk is in fat content. Moreover, the fat concentration varies during a milking process and when the milk is received in a container its fat is generally not homogeneously distributed in the container. If a sample of milk is analysed, it is important that the sample is representative of the whole milk quantity.
One way to provide a sample is to take samples continuously during a milking process, which samples are then collected in a sample container. EP, 564023, A1 describes a method where a fraction, 1%, of the milk is sampled during the milking of an animal. This sampling requires that a rather large fraction is sampled to provide a representative sample.
To reduce the risk of providing less representative samples, EP, 564023, A1 also describes a method where all milk extracted from an animal is drawn to a milk meter, where it is subjected to pressurised air, bubbling the milk, so the milk is stirred before a sample is taken.
Besides distributing the fat, such air bubbling process contributes to the emergence of free fatty acids (FFA) in the milk.